Rail-joint.



No, 665,553, Patented 1an. 8, 190|.

- H. M. WILLIAMS.

RAM. Jnlu 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY M. WILLIAMS, OF FORT WAYNE, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- FOURTH TO VFRANZ BURGER, OF SAME PLACE.

RAIL-JOINT.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters `ll'aten'. N o. 665,558, dated January 8, 1901. Application led July 12, 1899. Serial No. 723,535. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, HENRY M. WILLIAMS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fort Wayne, in the county of Allen and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-Joints, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to'rail-joints; and it consists in a certain construction of lishplates adapted for application to the abutting ends of rails, as fully set forth hereinafter and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a cross-sectional view through a rail, showing my fish-plate applied thereto, the parts in position before the rail-joint is tightened. Fig. 2 is a View showing the parts in position after the rail-joint has been tightened to a certain extent; Fig. 3, a similar View showing the position of the parts after the bolts have'been fully tightened, and Fig. 4 a side View.

In my improved rail-joint there are two [ishplates A A', adapted to the opposite sides of the ordinary T-rails X X', which abut each other, and extending across the joints thus formed. Each fishplate is made of elastic metal and consists of an outwardly-curved section or web a, adapted to tit between the heads 0c and the anges of the rails, as set forth hereinafter, and continued to form a yoke portion b, adapted to engage the flange of the rails and forming a bottom seat for the latter, and a vertical flange c, which is much shorter in the direction of the length of the rails than the web a, the webs and the flanges being perforated for the reception of transverse bolts d e, as shown. The fish-plates are so rolled or formed that when applied to the side of a T-rail with the lower flange thereof bearing against the lower inner face of the yoke Z2 the upper inner face of said yoke will not be parallel to the upper face of.

the flange but will make contact therewith only at the point w, near the outer edge. When in this position, the upper edge of the web a will be presented to and just in contact with the lower inclined face of the head the edge y of the web being likewise inclined.

The iianges c are not absolutely vertical,but eachisinclined inward atthelowerend oredge, so that their inner faces diverge from the bottom toward the base of the rail X, whereby when the bolts d are tightened the lower edges of the flanges c are first broughttogether, as shown in Fig. 2, so that any further tightening of the bolts results in a transverse bending of the [ianges c,which thereby serves to prevent the loosening of the nuts of the bolts and gives an elastic bearing upon the flanges ce of the rails.

Inasmuch as the webs dare curved and beveled at the upper edges and bear on the iianges .fc only near the outer edges thereof, the effect of tightening the bolts e is to spring the upper portions of the yokes h downward toward the upper faces of the flanges a: of the rails with a gradually-increasing gripping action as the bolts are tightened, with a corresponding frictional binding of the edges y of the webs against the under sides of the heads 5cl. This is further increased by the tendency of the webs d to become [iattened by the pressure of the bolts, thereby forcing down the Lipper portions of the yokes b onto and gripping the flanges fr.

As before stated, the flanges cv are much shorter than the webs a. These flanges come beneath the joints between the abutting railsections and serve to effectually stiften the fish-plates at this point and secure a firm bearing for the rails without interfering with the'application of the latter to the ordinary sleepers, while, further, the ends of the fishplates projecting beyond the flanges c are left at liberty to bend more freely to accommodate themselves to the rails than otherwise would be the case.

It will be seen that in the said construction there are three extended points of contact between each fish-plate and the rails-first, the bearing of the edge y of the web d against the under side of the head; second, the bearing of the upper inner face of the yoke h against the upper face of the flange; third, the bearing of the inner lower face of the yoke b against the under side of the ilange, these being bearing faces and not mere bearingpoints.

IOO

Withoutlim'iting myself to the precise construction and arrangement of parts shown, I claim as my invention- The combination with the ends of abutting rails, the heads of which have inclined under faces, of a rail-joint consisting of {ish-plates of elastic metal, each having an outwardlycurved web adapted to make Contact only With the under faces of the rail-heads and upper surfaces of their bases, a yoke portion adapted to receive and conform to the contour .of the anges of the bases of the Fails and an inclined vertical ange shorter in respect to the length of the rails than the Websection, the said vertiealfiange depending beneath the rails between adjacent cross-ties and engaging at its lower end only with the corresponding iiange of the opposite fishplate, means for securing the vertical flanges together,and bolts for drawing the outwardlycurved web portions of the opposite fish- -plates toward each other, whereby as the bolts HENRY M. VILLIAMS.

lVitnesses:

Guo. D. CRANE, J. B. RYAN. 

